


silver stars gleamin' in the dusk, did ya forget how to dance?

by hawkeyemorelikehawkaye



Series: Toni Sharp Rewrite AU [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Character Death, Blood and Injury, Drowning, Earthquakes, Foster Care, Gen, Housefire, Kinda, Knives, Lightning - Freeform, Mugging, Near Death Experiences, Rewrite of Previous Work, Self-Insert, Tags will update as we go, Temporary Character Death, Vomiting, Vomiting Blood, ask to tag, finally getting to the MCU arcs, hehe i can finally tag this as 'eddie brock' because he appears for a couple lines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 08:20:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24846691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawkeyemorelikehawkaye/pseuds/hawkeyemorelikehawkaye
Summary: (Name is just vaguely poetic thing I came up with just now. Rewrite of a previous fic that was... poorly written, to say the least.)If you asked her what she’d be doing today, she might answer, ‘staying inside and washing her hands’, or maybe ‘browsing the internet’, or ‘who are you and how did you get into my house?’She would most definitely not answer ‘falling through a magic portal into another universe’.But that’s where she was right now, so who was the idiot now? Still her.(A self-insert OC gets put into the MCU and wastes no time in fucking shit up.)
Series: Toni Sharp Rewrite AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1797394
Comments: 28
Kudos: 91





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y'all! You might have read the old version of this AU- you can find it in my works in the 'feral toni sharp au' series. It was written when I was sleep deprived and had no clear idea of how to communicate the specifics of this AU in writing, so I've decided to take another go at it.

If you asked her what she’d be doing today, she might answer, ‘staying inside and washing her hands’, or maybe ‘browsing the internet’, or ‘who are you and how did you get into my house?’

She would most definitely not answer ‘falling through a magic portal into another universe’.

But that’s where she was right now, so who was the idiot now? Still her.

She snorted to herself, choking when she remembered that she was floating in the middle of space.  _ Right, don’t snort. _ She’d managed not to die so far- how, she wasn’t sure, but she would  _ not _ punch a gift miracle in the mouth.

She glanced around, and realized she was floating closer towards something that seemed- solid, almost, but translucent. Reaching out, she grabbed at it- only to flinch back when it sliced her palm open.

Hissing, and then choking again, she looked at the cut- it was sharp and jagged, blood beading up and floating away in the lack of gravity.

Suddenly, she remembered something- weren’t humans only supposed to live for 30 seconds in the vacuum of space? Sure, she’d lived this long, but the exposure of her blood could change it. Reaching into her jacket pocket (the jacket may or may not have been, ahem, appropriated, from her father years earlier), she snagged a piece of fabric-  _ thank god for her never cleaning out her pockets _ .

Wrapping the fabric tightly around her hand, she winced and shook it slightly. Her dad used to say that it encouraged her body to make painkillers faster, but this time it only made the cut, well,  _ spread _ .

Yelping- and  _ again  _ choking- she really should stop that- she reached in with her good hand and snagged another piece of fabric. She was so fucking grateful that her grandma and aunt both gave her sewing stuff.

When she wrapped the fabric around her arm, she twitched slightly, and the cut spread further up her arm, up her shoulder, and she could feel it spread like cracks over her throat and chest.

“Fuck!” She wheezed, coughing, before she blacked out.

  
  
  


She came to awareness to a muffled voice speaking. Luckily, she had three siblings, so she was kind of an expert at pretending to still be asleep and eavesdropping.

“Children don’t just drop from the sky, Hill.” A voice said. It was gruff- probably a dude, then.

Someone, a lady who she assumed was ‘Hill’, responded. “We’re still trying to figure out how she got in, but she  _ has _ been found to have several particles on her that have only been found in deep space.”

The man  _ hmm _ ed. “Any updates on the DNA testing?”

There was the sound of hair ruffling- the lady was shaking her head, probably. “Nothing concrete- the best we can find is that her DNA is non-standard. A mutant, probably.”

_ What? Are they talking about me or someone else? _ She wondered, making sure to subtly flex her toes. She could still feel her shoes- that was good news. The bad news was that she couldn’t feel the hilt of  _ Coscroi _ in her shoe.

(In case you’re wondering, Coscroi was supposed to be from ‘Cosantóir Croí’ for ‘Heart Defender’, but instead it meant ‘Prevention’. It was still a half-decent name for a knife, so she kept it.)

Trying to feel at her nerves (she never really noticed when she hurt unless she actively tried to feel it), she noticed an ache in her back and pain littering the places she’d cut herself on the star-stuff.

She peeled her eyes just barely open- thank god she had thick enough eyelashes that they covered her eyes being open.

There were two people she could see- a tall black man with an eyepatch and no hair, and a relatively short white woman wearing a suit with brown hair.

Groaning, she rolled over, peeling open her eyes to make it seem like she was only just waking up.

She sat up, taking a log of her surroundings. It looked like she was in a hospital.

Which, actually, made sense, because either she had been in space or she had been tripping balls, and considering she was only twelve and avoided drugs and alcohol like it was nobody’s business, either she’d been in space or drugged.

“Good morning,” The woman said. “I’m Agent Maria Hill. And  _ you _ are in top-secret SHIELD headquarters.”  _ Guess the dude left earlier. Huh. _ “Now,” Hill crouched down, so we were eye-level. “How did you get in?”

She blinked at her. “Huh?”

It took a little while, and several ‘huh?’s on her part, but eventually she realised that she was in an actual SHIELD facility. Like, SHIELD from Marvel.

Also, she’d actually been in space. So that’s… Something. She wrote it off as proof the multiverse existed and her branch just being weird as fuck.

Eventually, Hill seemed convinced that she was actually confused, so she was brought to an… interrogation room? Or something like that, and they asked her questions.

She lied, a lot.

“What is your name?”

While she had a rather common last name, her first name was a wee bit less common, and if this was a multiverse, she didn’t want them finding other her, so she lied. 

“Toni Sharp.” It was the first one she could think of- in her defense, she realized seconds after she said it that it was incredibly similar to Tony Stark. Still.

“Where are you from?”

“Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.” Sure, it was relatively close to her actual home town, but she knew it a bit, and they’d have rotten luck trying to find any evidence of a single person in such a big person.

“How old are you?”

“Seven.” She’d caught sight of both a calendar and a mirror on her way down- she looked way younger than twelve, and it was currently the April before her first birthday- as in, the one where she’d been born. April 7, 2007.

“When were you born?”

Doing some quick mental math, she’d replied with “January 3.”

“How did you get in?”

“Haven’t a clue.”

That last one, admittedly, was more true than the others- she had  _ some _ clue, but she still didn’t really understand it.

Eventually, Hill decided she was probably telling the truth and called in her boss, who sh-  _ ahem _ , Toni, presumed to be Nick Fury.

She was totally right.

Eventually, they settled some things out- she wasn’t from this dimension (they just figured that out from her DNA being literally different from humans in this world, and  _ not _ from the fact that some of the songs on her tablet were from 2020, so ???), she was seven, and she didn’t have parents.

They decided to send her into foster care to monitor her- apparently, she had the same radiation on her as stars (and also someone named ‘Danvers’, and she may or may not have screamed internally in delight at the mention of Captain Marvel.)

The foster family she was sent to was the closest they could find to someone related to her- the current theory was that her DNA had been altered by whatever had brought her here, so she did have relatives, it was just hard to find them.

It was the Hopson’s- they were her distant cousins, supposedly, although she’d believe anyone was her distant cousin as long as they were from an irish catholic family.

The Hopson’s were your typical nuclear family- a mother, Jennevieve Hopson, a father, Konner Hopson, and two children- Suzanne Hopson, who was seventeen, and Michael Hopson, who was three.

(It was kind of painful to hear their names, honestly. Her mother had been named Susan, and she’d had two uncle Michaels.)

She moved in on April 9, into an extra room they had- apparently, they fostered children fairly often. That made her feel better, at least- they probably at least knew that she wouldn’t want to talk about her feelings or anything.

Her room was rather plain- but she rather liked it that way. She put the few things she’d brought with her from home on the shelves- her travel-sized sewing kit and some fabric, two old pill-bottles repurposed to hold dried flowers, a small glass bottle full of rainwater, her tablet that had pirated future music on it, two men made out of chicken bones, and fifty something dollars in christmas money.

(She also added the things that Hill, who was rather sympathetic, had let her buy with a ten dollar bill. A ‘cactus bloom’ candle that smelled like her mother’s shampoo, a notebook with a pale gray cover, a set of art supplies she’d managed to find at a going-out-of-business sale.)

The walls were a nice, neutral shade of gray- it was darker than it was pale, which would certainly help in case she had any headaches, as she was prone to. The bedsheets were space themed- her pillows had stars on them, her blanket had a picture of the crab nebula, and her sheets had the Eagle Nebula.

She rather enjoyed space things- she’d been taking astronomy for a while in online school before she’d fallen behind and given up, and she’d never been in a clear enough space to actually see many stars (or see the moon clearly without squinting), but she enjoyed it nonetheless. 

She also decided to start up a ‘conspiracy blog’ on the (newly started) tumblr by the name of ‘2020WillBeHellish’, where she posted several things she remembered happening in 2020.

As for her relationship with her new family- well, it could be worse. It could also be better, but she wasn’t sure how’d she get it there.

Jennevieve, it turned out, was also an orphan (it almost hurt to admit that she was, in practice, an orphan), and had understood Toni’s reluctance to talk about it. Konner had still gotten it, but not quite as much.

But Suzanne? Suzanne was- Hmm. Suzanne reminded her of her older brother. Almost too much.

Suzanne was smart and sarcastic, kind of blunt, and full of teen angst.

But whatever.

As it turned out, the Hopson’s were only temporary, while they looked for a permanent home for Toni. She’d kept track of it, written almost everything down in her gray journal, and she spent her free time either reading from the library the Hopson’s had or tracing her fingers over the name on the older flower-filled pill bottle.

(It had been her father’s- he tended to leave his empty med-bottles around once he used them all out, and she’d needed somewhere to keep her flowers, so it had all worked out.)

(It had been her father’s like her jacket- old, green, and with a couple patches made of soft sloth-covered cloth- had been his. Like her temper had been his, like her face had been his sister’s, like her brain things ™ had been from him.)

In the end, she was sent to the Hart’s. A single mother and her son- Abigail and Kevin.

(She’d had an uncle Kevin. She’d never met him- he’d died before her time- but he’d existed nonetheless.)

Kevin was a couple years younger than her- he was five, to her seven. Abigail was twenty-five, maybe, and her frizzy brown hair reminded Toni of her cousin Izzy.

That was around the time Toni started going to real, actual school.

It was pretty uneventful- she was only seven again, so she was fairly smart for her class, but that wasn’t that new. Her parents used to say that she was smart- admittedly, she’d rather be good at studying than smart, but still.

She made a couple friends- seven year olds, it turns out, were actually fairly friendly.

There was Jodene Samuals, who was tall with frizzy black hair and eyes the color of honey- she was far better at being social than Toni, and had several friends, but her main friend group was the one Toni was part of.

There was also Calista Dane, who was short with a missing front tooth and soft blonde hair. She was actually quite smart for a normal seven year old- it reminded Toni of a girl she went to school with the first time around, Savannah.

Finally, there was occasionally Kelia Rodney, who had long brown hair and a button nose. She reminded Toni of Brook, yet another of her schoolmates from last time.

“Hey,” Toni greeted Abigail from where she was at the table, working on her homework, “What’s up?”

The woman was upset- that much was clear just from the tear tracks on her face. 

“I’m so, so sorry,” She said, “But I got fired and-” She sobbed, “We can’t afford another kid, I’m so sorry, I called Child Services. They’ll be here in a couple hours to bring you to another home.”

Oh. It was quiet in the house, the only sound being Abigail’s sobs.

“That’s alright.” Toni eventually said. She was upset, sure, but she’d feel worse if she made Abigail feel worse.

  
  
  


After the Hart’s, she ended up with another family- the Walsh’s. She didn’t pay much attention to them. 

Instead, she decided to finally write out her ‘life story’- or, at least, what she’d be saying it was.

Antonya Cassidy Sharp, going by Toni, was born January 3, 2000, to Susan Sharp nee Smith and Richard Sharp. She had three siblings- an older brother, Shane, an older sister, Abigail, and a younger brother, Edmund.

Most other details remained the same, even if she had to change some birth dates around.

Admittedly, she did make up the names of her siblings, and fudge her parent’s last names, and also Cassidy wasn’t her middle name, but that could be excused.

After that, she started writing down every single event she remembered happening in the MCU, as well as when she thought they happened, and a way to fix it.

When she was done with that, she rolled up the papers and tied it shut with a hairtie, put it in her bag, and started getting ready. She was going to solve- something, at the very least. She didn’t want to end up as part of the dusted.

Luckily, it was 2007, so she had a little bit of time. 

Also luckily, her tablet was still able to connect to the Wi-Fi, so she could look several things up, and also learn several things.

One, Tony Stark wasn’t Iron man yet- he hadn’t even gone missing. Which was… problematic. She couldn’t just go up to him and say, ‘I know about Yinsen, and also Iron Man’s origins, and also Thanos is coming so watch out’.

Two, it was Saturday, May 5, 2007- she had, probably, eleven-ish years until Thanos came to Earth.

For three, she learned the best non-perishable foods- she was planning on travelling quite a bit, so she’d started stocking up on peanut butter, crackers, and similar.

And finally, she found the PO boxes and addresses of the people she was writing to.

After that, she carefully wrote out, in her fancy-shmanciest pen (she was weirdly picky with pens, so she had a nice collection of good ones), notes to important people. After that, she used a lysol wipe (it was so nice to have them back on the shelves) to clear it of any possible DNA or fingerprints, filled out several envelopes, and sent them off.

Anthony Edward ‘Tony’ Stark

10880 Malibu Point

Malibu, California, 90265

IMPORTANT

_~~ Dear ~~ _

_~~ Greetin ~~ _

_~~ Hel ~~ _

_ Dr. Stark _

_ I write you at your private address because, while the screening is most likely much more thorough, it is also probably less invasive, and this seems less likely to be given to an intern to handle if I write your private home. _

_ I have recently come into the possession of important information regarding possible attacks on you/plans to affect your health. As such, I felt that it was my moral duty to insure you are also in possession of said information. _

_ The ‘Ten Rings’, a terrorist group originally founded by HYDRA and based in Afghanistan, is planning on attacking you during your Jericho Missile demonstration in Afghanistan. They have help from the inside- which brings me to my next point. _

_ I have evidence (I.E. transcripts of audio recordings) that point to Obidiah Shane being involved with the Ten Rings. I am unsure why he would do this, but my personal guess is that he has something to gain from it.  _

_ Furthermore, I have information regarding the Ten Ring’s camp- they are holding captive Dr. Ho Yinsen, hailing from Gulmira.. I will admit, part of the reason I tell you this is that I hope for him to be freed before his death. _

_ Finally- while not exactly information that is vital and must be acted upon immediately- I wish to inform you that Gulmira, the town that Dr. Yinsen is from, often has been attacked by the Ten Rings, in possession of weapons produced by your company, likely given to them by Obadiah Shane, and requires some assistance- a recent surge in terrorist activity has caused the deaths of multiple civilians. _

_ You may disregard this if you wish, but beware- information is only useful if you use it. I will send more information when I find it. _

_ Also, there’s going to be a pandemic in 2020. _

_ Good luck. _

_ -C _

Temere Nomen Eius

9492 North Clinton Dr.

Quakertown, PA 18951

  
  
  


Mr. And Mrs. Matthew and Sylvia Quill

15 Smith’s Dr.

St. Charles, MI 63691

_ Please Excuse This Effortful Risk. _

_ Let’s Invite Victory En-route Successfully. _

_ Yes, Envy This. _

_ Indeed, No. _

_ Sorry, Pitiful Attempt Ceased Effortlessly. _

_ Will Incinerate This Herfore. _

Y. Ondu

9492 North Clinton Dr.

Quakertown, PA 18951

Nodding to herself, she trekked back to the house.

There were still some things that had to happen- Thor coming to Earth, Stark becoming Iron Man, Ronan dying- but other things, like Quill’s grandparent’s thinking him dead for several decades, Stark’s trauma, and similar, could easily be prevented.

Good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning: I've only completely written this chapter so far, and it took up 11 pages in google docs. I'm probably only going to write this when I hyper-focus on Marvel, but I do hope to write more in the future. I'm also going to be posting some other stuff in this AU- one-shots, maybe, or a chatfic.
> 
> Nov 5 edit: changed some minor details to include less personal info


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Toni has a very sub-par day, the fourth foster family is introduced, chapter length goes down, and I consider writing a spin off about Pearl Pemberton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> head to the end notes for chapter warnings, i don't think it's too bad but it's better safe than sorry

_ Friday, June 1, 2007 _

As it turned out, Toni’s new home only lasted a bit under a month.

On June 1, Toni had awoken to what could, politely, be called an earthquake. Impolity, it could be called ‘the second, third, and fourth comings of Christ all mixed into one’.

She’d yelped, grabbed her (still unpacked) backpack, and huddled under the desk in her room until it had ended. Once it had stopped, she’d emerged from her hiding place, eyes squinting around for damage.

She’d gone to open the door and-

_ Hmm. _ Toni blinked for a moment at the solid mass of debris blocking her door. 

“Worrying.” She said aloud, as if she expected someone to hear.

Instead, she’d turned around, peeled open the window, and stepped out, grateful to be on the first floor.

Then, slowly, she’d turned, and-

She fainted.

Now, make no mistake- Toni was not particularly weak-willed. In fact, one might say she was a touch more tolerant of things like that, because her father had spent days watching buildings be demolished on youtube.

That was different from this.

The roof of the house seemed to have caved in, crushing the second floor. The second floor, in turn, had crushed the first floor, which had then collapsed into the basement. It appeared her room was spared only because it was a first-floor addition, without anything above or below her room.

Shards of glass littered the ground, and a telephone poll had fallen over. The ground itself seemed to have been carved open, jagged cracks and crevices emerging in it.

  
  
  


Toni regained consciousness what she assumed to be several hours later, in what she guessed was a hospital room. She was surprised to find herself better off than she expected- she seemed to have escaped without any cuts or bruises, outside from the ones she’d gotten when she fainted onto concrete. Even those were barely a purple-yellowish color, fading quickly, and so were probably minimal.

She was also surprised to find herself not hooked up into anything- a relief, really, because she could  _ not _ afford a hospital visi-

Oh, yeah. She was a kid. A foster kid, meaning her hospital bills would (hopefully) be paid by the government. 

Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she stifled a yawn, standing and finding herself surprisingly pain free- and alone.

Straining her ears, she listened intently, for someone’s breathing, perhaps a roommate or someone outside- but there was no noise outside of her own heartbeat and breathing.

She wasn’t sure why, but that was-  _ deeply _ unsettling. Glancing around, she took note of a calendar- it was June second, meaning she’d been out for-  _ maybe twelve hours? _ She estimated haphazardly. 

Then, she walked over to the window- a surprisingly easy task- and pulled the curtain open, revealing it to be day, the sun hanging low in the sky, either new to the sky or old and tired.

After squinting at it for a while, she figured it was probably going up- meaning she’d been out for… about three hours? It had been kind of close to sunrise when the earthquake happened, so it was probably about seven or eight. 

Well, there was no sense in staying here to be interrogated or accused of anything- she was clearly fine, and after a bit of snooping, she found her backpack and jacket under one of the chairs. Pausing, she glanced around, but found nothing of interest in the room, and shrugged, opening the first floor window and walking out.

_ Now _ , she thought, walking off,  _ to find a place to sit and cry for a little bit without being disturbed. _

  
  
  


After a half hour or so, she found what seemed to be a tourist attraction, including a map stand-  _ perfect _ . 

Snagging one, along with one of each of the pamphlets, she pulled it open. Admittedly, she didn’t exactly know how to read a map, but it would still be useful.

And so she ended up, in a quiet corner of a public park, trying to figure out exactly where she was.

Luckily, she seemed to be in the same town- Lake Hillsbay, Maryland (which, frankly, should  _ not _ count as a town name). Unluckily, she had no idea where to go from there. 

She did, eventually, figure out that she was in Lake Hillsbay Public Park- no thanks to her less-than-stellar map reading skills, but luckily there had been a mother with two children passing by who seemed to be concerned about her and guided her to the nearest police station.

And that was where she was now- one shoulder with a soft, motherly hand resting on it, eyes dancing around the face of the police officer.

“I was living at-” She paused, scrounging her memory for her address, before remembering she had written it down and put the paper in her boot. Snagging it out, she unfolded it and read it. “I was living at 93 Crescent Willow Ave,” She put the paper away, “And there was an earthquake. Then I woke up somewhere, and now I’m here.”

The police officer- a burly woman with short blonde hair- raised an eyebrow. “You got any family we can contact, kid?”

Toni cocked her head, considering. “No,” She said bluntly, “But the foster worker assigned to my case was Pearl Pemberton.” She considered it again. “I think she might have to assign me another family. I don’t think the Walsh’s survived.”

The police officer nodded gruffly, turning to her computer, probably to send out some message or other. 

  
  
  


It was several hours later, at about 2 o’clock, that Pearl Pemberton arrived. Her normally frizzy hair was a complete mess, as if she’d rushed there- which, considering it, she probably had.

“Hey, kid,” Mrs. Pemberton greeted Toni, “I’ve got to meet with the officer for a little bit, but then we should be ready to roll out to your next family.”

Toni cocked her head from where she was, curled up and using her tablet in a corner armchair. “No survivors, then?”

Mrs. Pemberton pursed her lips. “I’ll… let you know later, once we have this settled out. Okay?”

Toni shrugged, the sting that was starting to feel familiar forming in her chest. “Okay.” She paused. “I might go find somewhere quiet for a little bit, though.”

“Stay within sight of the station,” Her case worker requested, “And don’t go off with anyone. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.” The woman paused, concern spreading over her features. “Have you eaten today?”

Toni gestured to her backpack, on which she was resting her chin, and a few wrappers sticking out of the trash. “I had some crackers and peanut butter in my backpack,” She offered, “But I’d like to get somewhere with some real food.”

Nodding, Mrs. Pemberton went in the back with the officer, leaving Toni to pop one earbud in and not turn any music on.

Pausing, she strained her ears, trying to listen in on what they were saying.

The words were muffled through the door, but she could hear them clear enough.

“ _ No survivors, except for her? _ ” Mrs. Pemberton’s voice, doubtful.

A pause, shifting- papers rustling- as the police officer spoke. “ _ Well, one. It looks like the youngest- the six year old- managed to crawl out before it collapsed completely. Major injuries, though- heavy scarring is expected, and the doctors wouldn’t be surprised if she never walks again. _ ”

Mrs. Pemberton’s voice, quiet and sorrowful. “ _ Oh. So the parents…? _ ”

“ _ Crushed by the falling roof, _ ” The officer confirmed. “ _ Unlucky, too- only deaths in the neighborhood. All the other houses were mostly fine, only some minor injuries. _ ”

The tell-tale rustle of Mrs. Pemberton smoothing her jacket, almost definitely upset, and a soft sigh. “ _ Alright, then. If we’re done with this, I’ll go bring Toni to her next home. Hopefully a bit more permanent than this one _ ,” The last part was quieter than the rest, added on as if a distant thought. 

The door creaked open, making Toni’s heart startle in her chest, but Mrs. Pemberton turned and nodded to her, calm spilling over her features.

“Are we ready to go?” Toni hazarded a guess, picking up her backpack.

“Yeah,” Mrs. Pemberton nodded. “I have some sandwiches in my bag, though. You can have one.”

  
  
  


The car ride was quiet, apart from Mrs. Pemberton handing over a file- on the earthquake, Toni assumed- that Toni decided she’d read later, along with another file on the new family.

Her music was playing quietly in her earbuds- it was a shame it’d be most of a decade until Hamilton came out again, but for now that would have to suffice- when they pulled into the driveway of a tall, narrow house.

It was painted a pale, eggshell blue color, but the paint was clearly faded. The windows were small but numerous, and the driveway was black asphalt that heat radiated off of.

“So,” Toni shifted, gripping her backpack, “I feel like it would be rude to say I hope I don’t see you again, but-”

Mrs. Pemberton laughed lightly, pale and forced, but it was a laugh nonetheless. “The feeling is reciprocated.”

Stepping out, Toni scanned the paper. Two mothers, Ira and Ami, and three children- Lia, Lio, and Lee.

Pausing, Toni took a moment to try not to break out in laughter. The children weren’t even triplets, for fucks sake.

  
  
  


Toni ‘ _ hmm _ ’ed, staring at her notebook. Her previous scrolls of events had gotten so curled she hadn’t been able to keep it open, and so she’d written it all down in her notebook instead. 

_ 2007-2008: Tony Stark kidnapping. Letter sent. _

_ ~2009: Hulk 1. (How fix?) _

_ 2012: Avengers 1. (How fix?) _

_ 2014~2016: GOTG 1. (Is it possible to fix?) _

_ 2015: Civil War. Point out how dumb. _

_ 2017-2019~: Thanos. (How fix?) _

It was… not a lot.

Toni jerked out of her unproductive zoning out when Ira knocked on the door.

“Dinner,” Offered the woman, “Grilled cheese and soup.”

Pausing in her quest, Toni went to eat dinner and pretend she had a solution.

  
  
  


The nights were short and quiet, the sun setting late and rising early thanks to summer. The days, even though they were longer, seemed to be too short to really do anything.

And that is how Toni ended up where she was- a towel tucked over the cracks in the door to muffle any noise, window propped open, staring at the moon and thinking.

There was too much light pollution to see the stars aside from the bright ones, but one particular constellation that she’d always enjoyed- three stars, in a strange triangle, she had no idea the name of it- was hanging to the lower right of the moon.

A breeze came through the window, warm and cool at the same time, smelling of car exhaust and newly growing grass, flowers and warm asphalt.

It was now, for the first time, that she allowed herself to wonder what became of her family. Her parents were stable at the best of times, and most of the time, they were worse off than that. It worried her, greatly- she wasn’t sure if all of her family could survive losing her, especially her father.

Admittedly, she’d never been quite as close with her father as with her mother, but she’d loved both of them. 

It hurt, to think she might never see them again. Her stomach was filled with- sadness, probably, but it just felt plain  _ bad _ . She’d never been good at identifying emotions.

The moon shone on, unknowing and uncaring of her problems. The three stars glimmered and flickered in the sky.

Toni slept like that, lulled into rest at last by the smell of an incoming storm and the sound of people breathing in the other rooms of the house.

  
  
  


When Toni awoke, it was to the sound of rain hitting the roof outside her window.

_ Whoops _ , she winced, shutting the window and trying to ignore how stuffy the inside air was. After taking a moment to check to make sure nothing important got rained on, she decided to head outside. The clock on the wall said it was about 8 o’clock- in the morning, if she had to guess.

Stepping outside, Toni sat on the warm, damp asphalt of the empty driveway, letting the summer rain hit her and soak into her hair.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and lighting flashed, splitting the sky. Toni settled in, watching the sky light up for only a moment, again and again.

Her hair was ruffled from falling asleep the way she did, but the rain pushed it down, and she paused, taking a moment to acknowledge the rats nest her hair was quickly becoming. It tended to do that, she knew, but it had been a bit since she’d gotten the chance to brush it out properly, and curly hair snarled so fast.

Still, after finger combing it out, the best she could do was braid it so it wouldn’t get worse. 

Toni stayed there, sitting and watching the storm, for a couple hours. Gnats buzzed lightly around her, but the rain drove most of them off, and they didn’t bite (unlike  _ certain _ gnatlike bugs at home), so it was fairly calm.

At one point, Toni felt what she assumed to be a bug landing on the back of her neck, and she reached up to squash it- nothing.

Just as she was shrugging it off, the sky split open again, lightning arcing and striking the roof of the house. Sparks showed down on her, heating her skin without quite burning it, and the sky seemed to be roaring.

Toni fell flat on her back onto the warm asphalt, yelp drowned out by the scream of thunder.

After a moment, the roaring subsided, although her ears rung, so she carefully peeled open an eyelid. Sparks danced behind her eyes, bright and distracting in shades of orange crimson and white, but beyond that, she seemed okay.

The same could not be said, however, for the house.

The lightning had clearly followed the house down to the ground, electricity stripping away both paint and material in its path. It left a long, complicated lightning mark (Lichenburg? Lichtburg? Lichebirg? Something like that), reminding Toni of the tree by her grandparent’s timeshare that was struck by lightning. 

Toni paused for a second, considering what to do, and decided that her best bet would be to go to the park.

Unfortunately, that meant she had to get her backpack out of the house first. And while she did achieve it, that didn’t mean she had to  _ enjoy _ going through a kind-of-on-fire house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: earthquakes, minor/background character death, lightning/thunder
> 
> Line Break to Prevent Warning Checkers from Reading Spoilers
> 
> i just bingeread a SIOC MCU fic by someone who happens to read this (u know who u are, u wonderful writer u) and it got me into enough of an MCU mood that i wrote this.
> 
> a couple notes:
> 
> 1- while i am trying to do this story justice so it can finally be somewhere other than my own head, i'm sure to make mistakes. i am also sure to do things that don't make sense now but will later. i will not clarify which plotholes are mistakes and which are plot points, so for a bit we're gonna be flying like a bethesda game. sorry about that.
> 
> 2- i am tempted to, once this is a bit more done, write a spin off about pearl pemberton. i don't know why, but i gave her an alliteration name just in case. 
> 
> 3- in case you're wondering about the dig at biting gnats: there's some kind of bug living in my family's yard that's too small to see but bites us whenever we go outside. i hate them almost as much as the many mosquitoes that live out there.
> 
> 4- the 'something on the back of her neck' is referencing how the hair on the back of people's neck stands up right before lightning strikes nearby. if it does that and you're in the middle of a storm, you should drop to the ground so you don't get struck.
> 
> if you have any questions, ask me maybe in the comments? i'll probs put them in the notes for the next chapter too, so people don't have to go digging through the comments for them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> check end notes for chapter warnings.
> 
> im BACK! i never left, but im very lonely. i mean i do have three (3!) new friends on discord, but it would be nice if yall commented

“So,” Toni said casually, “How’s your day been?”

The frog she was talking to ribbitted.

“Mine’s been kind of crap,” She said, looking through her bag, “And I don’t really know what to do about that.” Pausing, she considered it. “I don’t think I can do anything about it, actually.”

The frog ribbited again.

Toni nodded solemnly. “See, that’s why I like you, Frog. You don’t mince words. Or, well,” She grinned with a tiny bit of amusement. “Just the one word, I guess.”

Frog croaked this time, as if to prove her wrong.

“My bad. Words.” Huffing, Toni went back to her bag, snagging a crumpled granola bar from a side pocket. Peeling it open- careful not to let any of the crumbs drop- she ate it, wiping her sticky hands on the wet grass afterwards.

“And now,” She said to Frog, “We wait for the rain to stop.” She was  _ not _ going out in the middle of a storm bad enough it had struck a house. She may have enjoyed storms, but there was a line that she would not cross.

Frog ribbited again.

  
  
  


The rain had slicked her hair down, making it greasy and curlier than usual, so Toni took out her scissors from her sewing kit and chopped it short. Upon arriving, she’d been forcibly reminded how terrible her hair care was from ages three to eleven, and had brushed it out, but it would be easier to take care of if it was short.

Strangely enough, her neck and shoulders weren’t covered with tiny cut hairs afterwards like they usually were, but then again she’d never cut her hair when it was wet. She shrugged it off and went back to waiting out the rain.

  
  
  


Lightning still danced across the sky in gaps in the leaves, hints of gold and crimson red amongst steel white, and thunder rumbled in the distance, reverberating in her chest and rattling her ribcage.

Rain pattered against the leaves above, making the ground muddy where it was open to the sky, and the air was filled with the smell of petrichor. Sitting and leaning against the side of a tree, she dozed off, dreaming of strange worlds and strange people speaking words that had bone-deep meanings.

_ “Come on,  _ **_snow-ice-storm-cold_ ** _! Don’t be a coward!” A person, skin pale and ears sharp, taunted their friend. _

**_Snow-ice-storm-cold_ ** _ glared, not seriously, and wobbled on their blue feet. “Quit it,  _ **_breeze-cloud-rain-gentle_ ** _!” They argued. Taking a step towards the fallen tree bridge, their red eyes scanned it. “Are you sure it’s stable?” They questioned. _

_ “Hurry up!” Whined  _ **_breeze-cloud-rain-gentle_ ** _. “The others are probably already there by now! Do  _ you _ want to get there and find out that  _ **_flame-spark-ash-ember_ ** _ and  _ **_salt-cold-freeze-storm_ ** _ have taken the best spots?” _

_ “No,” Admitted  _ **_snow-ice-storm-cold_ ** _ , “But I don’t want to cross this bridge, either.” _

**_Breeze-cloud-rain-gentle_ ** _ rolled their eyes. “Then just teleport across!” They urged. “You don’t  _ need _ to go the old fashioned way. _

_ “But we agreed-”  _ **_Snow-ice-storm-cold_ ** _ was cut off by  _ **_breeze-cloud-rain-gentle_ ** _.  _

_ “I’m changing the agreement! We can teleport now.”  _ **_Breeze-cloud-rain-gentle_ ** _ announced. “Alright?” _

_ “Alright,”  _ **_Snow-ice-storm-cold_ ** _ sulked, “But we should try going on a walk again later.” _

_ “Deal!” Agreed  _ **_breeze-cloud-rain-gentle_ ** _. “Alright, hurry up.” _

Toni jolted awake at a particularly loud thunderclap, eyelids sticky with sleep, and stood up. The storm was still going strong, but the small forested area she was in had shielded her. 

It was almost as if it had been grown specifically to shelter from rain- she couldn’t tell the type of tree, but they were large and wide, branches spanning from one tree to another. The leaves were wide and flat, and the only visible gaps in them were far enough away from her that she didn’t mind.

The bark was a certain shade of brown she recognized from a tree at her childhood home, but she didn’t know the name, and it seemed smoother than the tree had been.

Pausing in her considerations of the tree, she glanced around, looking for something interesting. Flowers grew in brightly colored groups by the tree’s base around her, something she’d failed to notice earlier, and she noticed a few she hadn’t seen before.

“Huh,” She said, picking up a siberian squill, “I didn’t know that these grow here.” She turned her attention to the rest of the flowers, trying to see what she could identify- surprisingly few, only the squill, daffodils, dandelions, and either chickadee or chickaree. She could never get the name right.

The rest of the flowers were bright and attention-grabbing, from the deepest lilac to the brightest red-orange. The air buzzed with cicadas, and the rain pattered steadily against the canopy.

  
  
  


The rain let up after several more hours, the thunder fading into the distance as the world lightened to a pale reddish-gray, revealing a star-covered night sky. The triangle constellation still hung in the darkness, brighter than the others.

“It is very pretty,” Toni remarked to Frog, “But I probably shouldn’t travel at night.”

Frog ribbited, hopping closer and perching on her thigh, as if to sooth her.

“I probably shouldn’t be personifying frog emotions,” She said out loud, “But you are very friendly, Frog.”

Frog ribbited again.

  
  
  


“Good morning,” Toni greeted Ira, who was staring at her from the porch. “The house got struck by lightning last night while you were gone, so I hung out in the park.”

The sun was rising from behind the house, the light just barely not shining in her eyes, and her hair was an uneven, choppy mess. Her shoes were muddy and her clothes were damp, as if she’d crawled out of a bog like some strange bog-crawler-outer, courtesy of the walk back to the house- longer, she learned, when the rain had made the ground almost liquid.

In summary, she looked like a mess.

“Um.” Ira said, ever the pinnacle of elegance and spoken word. “What?”

“Can I come in, please?” Toni steadfastly ignored the question. “It’s cold out here, and I think it might rain again.” She shot a glare to the sky, where stormclouds were lingering over the house. Must have been a strange, fucked-up weather system- usually, clouds  _ left _ after it rained.

_ Rude _ . Toni glared harder at the clouds, as if she could make them leave with sheer force of will, before returning her attention to Ira.

“Um.” Ira repeated, stepping out onto the porch and closing the door behind her. “I was locking up so we could stay with Ami’s mother while they repair the house.”

“Oh,” Toni nodded. “So, um, where should I go?”

“With us,” Ira blinked in confusion. “Was that not obvious?”

  
  
  


Ami’s mother was a hunched over elderly Russian woman who somewhat resembled a shrew, wore a shawl at all times, and had several bottles filled with hard candies throughout the house in various spots. Her name was Sofya, but she insisted Toni called her ‘Meemaw’. She had a large, plump cat named Ublyudok, but who she called Ublyu.

In short, she was terrifying. 

Admittedly, Toni had always been easily intimidated by authority figures, but a woman whose house she was living in insisting she call her a family title?

She did  _ not _ like that.

On the upside, Sofya also insisted on paying her and the other kids for all the work they did around the house, so she was slowly but surely building up savings- she got seven dollars a week for doing hand dishes every night and sweeping the house once a week.

After a month and a half, she went into town and spent it on things that would be useful if she spent another night in the woods.

_ Just in case _ , she assured herself. She wasn’t planning on running away, but if she had to spend another night outside, she refused to starve. Even if it meant carrying around a book about mushrooms and a box of matches constantly.

  
  
  


During that month and a half, she continued to visit the park, and Frog, every day. She didn’t really have any other friends, so she could just sit in the park and take a moment for herself. It was soothing, a sense of calmness that seemed to permeate the very ground she sat on. Each stone and pebble was buzzing quietly with a calming song she didn’t know the words to.

On her birthday- her real birthday, a Sunday towards the end of June- she spent a dollar at a bakery sale to buy herself a cupcake, and hung out in the park from sunrise till sunset.

Another half a month, bringing her time with the Andersons to two and a half months and her time at Sofya’s to two, found her sitting on the strange, completely flat roof outside her room’s window at the house.

It was night, again, and the rain was drizzling lightly- it was cooler now that it was early September, but it was a light enough rain that she didn’t mind. The clouds had parted in spots so she could see the stars, and her eyes instinctively sought out the triangle. The stars by far outshone the dull orangish-gray of the storm clouds, glowing with surprising clarity.

If she squinted, it almost looked like the orange of the storm clouds were flickering- but, she jerked suddenly, they were.

Turning back to look at the house, where the light was coming from, she stared in horror as flames appeared towards the back of the house. Smoke floated in the air, and now that she was trying to, she could smell it, strong as it was, from the other side of the house.

Eyes wide, she snatched up her bag and dashed back inside. “Fire!” She called, running to Lia and Lee’s room- the closest to hers- first. She burst through the door, drawing their attention, and repeated her shout of “Fire!”

They quickly got up as well, rushing off to get their brother and mothers while she got Sofya.

Five minutes later, they were all standing on the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Fire sirens wailed in the distance, and Sofya had grabbed a suitcase on her way out, which was now laid down next to her, and had pulled out shawls for each of them, Ublyu held carefully in a folded up shawl burrito.

“Ah,” Sofya said, watching as the front wall collapsed inwards, “Water’s not going to fix that.” She held Ublyu closer to her.

An ember floated closer, and Toni absentmindedly reached up and put it out with her hands. The rain must have cooled it, because it crumbled apart in her hands without burning her.

  
  
  


After the firefighters put the house out, Sofya took a moment to see what she could salvage, but there was nothing- it had been a quick-burning, hot fire.

“Well,” Sofya said, overlooking the wreckage, “I hate to be the one to say it, but I will probably have to stay with my sister, and it will already be a stretch to include my grandchildren.” Turning to Toni, she paused. “I will still check, of course, but it is likely you will need to live somewhere else.”

She did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warnings: Housefire (nobody dies)
> 
> filler spaces so people checking chapter warnings dont see spoilers
> 
> I am considering doing a timeskip between this and the next chapter, of a couple years. I might have a preface first, I might not, but this is my maladaptivly daydreamed story goddammit and i want to get to the Plot.
> 
> also, if you're reading this, consider checking out my clown husbandry series, where i shitpost about clowns, including the currently ongoing clownverse election (ending at 5PM eastern standard time, september 4)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni goes sightseeing and explores the town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check the end notes for trigger warnings! its gonna be a little more extreme this time!!! be safe yall

Her next family was the Smythes, a wife and husband with no children. They lived in the outskirts of Arcton Cove, Maryland, right by the edge of where the suburbs blended into forest, in a house that had been in Roxana’s- the wife’s- family for at least three generations.

Roxana had round, worn-down features, heavy with nights of no sleep and dozens of late shifts. She worked at the only bookstore within 50 miles in town, and often had to cover for her co-workers. She dressed in business casual almost constantly, button-up blouses and pencil skirts over pants.

Her husband, Kody, was perhaps the complete opposite in physical appearance- he was all sharp angles and harsh shadows. He was a lawyer at the biggest firm in town, and, like his wife, almost always wore his work clothes.

The two of them, when not at work, were often sleeping. It made Toni wonder why they had wanted children.  _ Then again _ , she mused,  _ wanting isn’t always the same as being able to provide for. _

That left her with a surplus of free time, unsupervised. She had taken advantage of it one mid-September afternoon, packing her bag with sandwiches and water bottles, and gone hiking.

The forest seemed to stretch endlessly, the ground rising ever-so-slightly as it went on, and there was a crashing sound, echoing in her ears. It sounded like the ocean.

Walking, her eyes seemed to catch on everything. The leaves were turning colors, streaks of orange, red, and gold blocking out the sky. The birds sang to each other and hopped between the trees, their feathers rustling and their beaks clicking.

Pausing, she took a moment to try and figure out where she was going. The sound of the crashing ocean was closer now, raging and calming in turn, and she could smell salt in the air, but there was no sign of the forest ending.

Deciding to play it safe, she stayed where the trees were thickest and the ocean was quieter, in case she accidentally wandered onto an unstable outcropping.

She found a clean-ish patch of grass and sat down, eyes flicking from place to place. Pausing, she took a moment to breathe in, centering herself. It wasn’t often that she needed to do so in nature, but she’d had a rough… couple months? Time had evaded her during 2020, and she was struggling to re-adapt to using specific dates now.

Breathing in, she let the cool September air sink into her lungs. It was just the right temperature, cold enough to cool without freezing. It made her lungs just a little bit more noticeable, without making them ache or hurt.

She was less tired than she thought she’d be- seven year old her had taken terrible care of herself- and although her feet ached, it was slight, and only from the nip in the air.

After a good couple hours of exploring and hanging out, she headed back. It was nearing lunchtime then, so she ate some of her packed sandwiches and decided to try her luck in town.

Being mindful to stay away from Roxana and Kody’s parts of town, she quickly found a thrift store. It had books, even though they were secondhand, and Toni honestly didn’t care about the slightly folded pages or the fingerprints on the spines.

Nothing caught her eye at first, but she still enjoyed some time reading in a corner.

She had just cracked open a new book- what looked like a fairly recent memoir, making her mourn the loss of her own in the fire that took Sofya’s house- when an envelope fell out of it.

Pausing in confusion, she picked up the re-sealed envelope from where it had landed in her lap. Her stomach dropped when she saw the name it was addressed to.

_ Temere Nomen Eius _

_ 9492 North Clinton Dr. _

_ Quakertown, PA 18951 _

Putting the envelope back into the book, she snapped the book shut and brought it up to the clerk. After buying it, she rushed home to read it, placing it carefully in her bag as she went on her way.

She was several blocks away from the thrift shop when someone pulled her into an alley.

“This is a mugging,” A man, maybe thirty, was pointing a knife at her. His face was masked, and he had managed to block her off from the alley entrance.

“Look, man,” She tried, raising her hands in an attempt to placate him, “I’m eight. I don’t have any money.” It was true- she’d spent the last of her savings on the memoir. She didn’t know why he’d even bothered trying to mug her.

The man glared. “What’s in the bag, then?” He reached towards the bag, but out of instinct, she lunged her head forwards, digging her teeth into his arm. He screamed, and blood filled her mouth.

She reared back, spitting out the blood. “Ugh,” She said, moving towards the alley entrance and wiping her mouth, “Gross.”

Suddenly, metal glinted in the corner of her eye. She jerked her head, but failed to dodge- the knife lodged firmly in her throat.

She stumbled out of the alley. It was difficult but not impossible to breathe, and she could feel blood on her neck.

She managed to find her way back to the forest, dropping to the ground and feeling, gently, at the wound. The knife was lodged to the hilt in her throat, and she could feel the metal burning in the wound. Blood gushed out, not as quickly as it would without the knife there but quick nonetheless, and her fingertips came back stained red.

She gurgled out a swear, then went into a coughing fit. She could feel blood bubbling up in the back of her throat, choking out the air, and her vision went spotty.

It was at that moment that she was filled with panic. The severity of her situation suddenly set in- she scrabbled at the ground with her blood-stained fingers, trying to claw her way back to the house, but she only succeeded in getting dirt and blood beneath her fingernails.

Her vision darkened, and she slumped over, feeling the cold start to embrace her.

  
When she woke up, the moon shone high above, and the stars twinkled, almost taunting her, as if she could reach up and pull herself up with them alone.

Shifting so she was sitting upright, she felt at her throat. The knife was gone, leaving behind a mighty scab. Dried blood crusted around it and on her fingers, and the only thing she smelt was the horrible metallicness of it.

Pausing, she took a moment to press her fingers to her pulsepoint on her neck. Her heart was beating a slow but steady tune, deep and resonating.

Taking a moment, she glanced around. Her bag was strewn about next to her, and right next to where she had collapsed, the knife glinted in the dirt. 

She considered what to do with it as she gathered up her things, but eventually decided that- as much as she’d enjoy having a knife- it wasn’t worth it to live with the thing that had nearly killed her. So she carefully walked over to the cliff edge, the knife gripped tightly in her hand.

The waves were crashing against the cliffs, rocks shooting up at the bottom, and the moon shimmered on the water. Holding the knife out over the ocean, she swallowed, took in a deep breath, and let go of it.

“Good luck,” She murmured quietly, “May you be used for something better in the future, if you’re ever found. May you be at peace if not.”

Then, she went home, showering and changing into clean clothes. The wound was almost healed already- which was definitely strange, but that was a problem for future Toni- and she collapsed into bed the second she was done.

The book and letter lay in her bag, forgotten for another night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warnings: attempted mugging gone wrong, someone bites someone and draws blood, someone gets stabbed in the throat
> 
> extra space to avoid warning checkers from seeing spoilers!
> 
> hey yall! how have you been?
> 
> this chapter may be a bit shorter than the others, but i like to think it makes up for that in plot development and ~drama~!
> 
> thoughts? questions? theories? random ramblings? put em in the comments! c'mon now, dont be shy!
> 
> this begins a descent into a markedly more visibly mythical part, but it will be A While before we get a full explanation. until then, i hope to add some little hints that might just look like me hand-waving logic, so be on the lookout!
> 
> also seems like a good time to note that it is Mid September Already and i am Not Ready.
> 
> if you like this, consider checking out my other fanfics! i am currently working on an owl house fanfic, which is a wee bit easier to write since its not maladaptivly daydreamed by me with huge plotholes, and hopefully that one will be updated a bit more reliably. no promises tho.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni is offered a place at a school for the gifted

_ “Come on,  _ **_ash-rock-crater-gone_ ** _ , hurry up!” A child complained, their long hair tangled with twigs and dirt. The other child, only just a smidge shorter than the first, was pouting as they stared at their sibling. _

_ “I’m trying,”  _ **_Ash-rock-crater-gone_ ** _ shot back, taking a hesitant step over the smooth ground. It was like an ocean between them, made of shimmering metals instead of water, but an ocean nonetheless. The air wavered with heat, and  _ **_ash-rock-crater-gone_ ** _ winced as a bubble popped close to their foot. _

_ “ _ **_Iron-metal-magma-rock_ ** _ , don’t be rude!” Scolded a third person, an adult. They were colored in blues, and they smelled salty. They stood next to **iron-metal-magma-rock** , looking all the part a worried parent. “Apologize to your sibling.” _

**_Iron-metal-magma-rock_ ** _ pouted, but turned to  _ **_ash-rock-crater-gone_ ** _. “I’m sorry,  _ **_ash-rock-crater-gone_ ** _ ,” they said, the words forced and bitter. “See,  _ **_caretaker-parent-love-pack_ ** _ , I apologized!” They turned back to their parent, who quirked an eyebrow. _

_ “Alright,” Their parent sighed, “Now,  _ **_ash-rock-crater-gone_ ** _ , do you think you can cross on your own, or should I come and get you?” _

_ “I can cross on my own!”  _ **_Ash-rock-crater-gone_ ** _ shot back, before yelping when another bubble popped near their feet. They jerked away from the ocean of metal. “On second thought, can you bring me across?”  _

Toni woke up the next morning with a dry mouth and the taste of blood in the back of her throat, strange dreams twisting in her head. Blinking, she sat up, and the memories of how she’d been stabbed rushed back.

“Ugh,” She stood, going to brush her teeth. She felt far better than she should, for someone who was stabbed in the neck less than 14 hours ago.

Pausing, she took a moment to examine her neck. There was a scar, jagged and thin, from when she originally landed in SHIELD, and- if she squinted- she could see the pale impression of a faint scar, rough and uneven. The knife wound.

After brushing her teeth and eating breakfast, she remembered the letter- and memoir- in her bag.

Cosying herself up against the wall, she made sure the blinds were closed (they always were) and turned on the lamp before flicking open the letter. Most of it was printed, save for the signature at the bottom, which looked copied and pasted.

_ Dear ‘C’, _

_ While we appreciate the concern, rest assured that Dr. Stark is completely safe. Furthermore, rest assured that Dr. Stane is by no means communicating with HYDRA or HYDRA-founded groups. _

_ -Obadiah Stane _

Well, fuck.

Folding the letter back up, she turned back to the memoir, flicking through it for mentions of why they had the letter.

_ Mother found a strange kind of junk mail today; it did not ask anything of us, and it was addressed as if from Stark Industries. But I know that it surely cannot be- none of us have ever communicated with them. _

Damn. She’d used a random generator to get a return address and said it was in the same town as her- this one must have been a real address, meaning real people got the reply to her letter.

Huffing, she shoved both of the things back into her bag. Her thoughts drifted back to how she’d survived being stabbed in the throat- she wanted to think she was some kind of super-powered person, but pessimism weighed her down.

She’d never been stabbed before- maybe neck wounds clotted faster than others? 

The rational part of her doubted that.

She decided, in the end, to pack her bag- thoroughly- and go back to the forest, to try and calm down some. Her skin crawled at the idea of being on the ground, so she climbed up into the bough of a thick oak tree.

Taking a moment, she laid down against the cool bark of the tree. It was misting lightly, but the tree protected her from the rain, and it was cool against her too-warm skin.

If she squinted, it almost looked like there was steam rising from her skin, but her eyes were never the most trustworthy, and even she knew that things started steaming at a higher temperature than she’d survive for long.

Her eyes sought out the holes in the tree cover, finding dark clouds rolling in and crackling with lightning. Somehow, despite the fact that she’d seen lighting strike a house, it wasn’t frightening to see it jump between clouds.

She remembered, suddenly, all the times she and her father and her siblings had watched storms from their porch. Her heart ached suddenly, and her skin cooled down. She sighed, sitting up and leaning against an upward branch.

She stayed there for a couple hours, until the rain had increased to the point where even she couldn’t stand it and the sun was starting to sink in the sky.

The house was surprisingly busy looking, with a couple oficial-looking cars in the driveway. Two of them were sleek and discreet, the kind of thing an undercover agent would use, and the last one resembled her father’s old work truck- the kind that seemed wrong if it didn’t have some company name and logo printed on the side. All three of them were black, with tinted windows.

It couldn’t mean anything good. Still, she squared her shoulders, took a deep, calming breath, and walked into the house.

Kody and Roxana were both at the kitchen table, along with a tall, fake-smiley woman. They all looked tense, and the woman’s eyes darted to Toni’s face the second she stepped in the door.

The woman increased her fake-looking smiling, holding out a hand to Toni. “You must be Toni, right?” She offered. “I’m Courtney Jonson. I’m with a branch of the government that offers schooling for  _ gifted _ people.”

Toni squinted at her in suspicion. “What branch of the government?” She asked skeptically. “Do you have any proof? Having fancy cars isn’t enough.”

Courtney’s- if that was her real name- smile grew just the tiniest bit brittle. “The Rational Academy of Facilitating Talent,” She explained, “It’s government-subsidised. Here.” She handed over a thick brochure, covered in pictures of some school by the edge of the ocean.

Then, she handed over a piece of paper declaring, loudly, that the Rational Academy of Facilitating Talent had officially passed it’s health inspection of May 2007.

“You’ll still be able to write back and forth with your parents, of course,” Courtney assured her, “And every summer you can come back and visit them.”

“We think it’s a wonderful opportunity,” Roxana inserted herself into the conversation, “You’ll have access to a better level of education than either of us could get.” She motioned between her and Kody. “You’re already packed up, I know, so you’ll be leaving tomorrow morning.”

She offered Toni a warm, tired smile. “I know that you like to go off on your own,” She said quietly, “But you have so much potential, Toni, you just need to be given the chance to  _ do _ something with it.” She motioned to Courtney. “And now you have been!”

Anxiety was gnawing at the pit of Toni’s belly, but she had always been anxious, so she dismissed it. “Thank you for this opportunity,” She nodded at Courtney, “I’m going to go clean up my room.”

She went up the stairs, pausing at the bottom. “Will I still have my own space?” She hesitated to ask.

“Of course,” Courtney assured her, “Every student can have all the personal time they could want.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >;)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni arrives at the Rational Acadamy for Facilitating Talent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check end notes for chapter warnings!!! shit gets bad!!!

The morning of Monday, September 17 dawned with the sound of rain pattering against the roof. The sun streaked the sky with oranges, greens, and pinks, toeing the edge between dull and vibrant.

Toni was up at 4AM. Her room was neatly cleaned up, all her things were put into her bag, and she showered, brushed her hair, and tied it back in one big braid.

She didn’t  _ remember _ any ‘Rational Academy of Facilitating Talent’ in the MCU, but then again, she’d never watched a decent amount of the movies- she’d only seen maybe half of the second Thor movie, and she’d never gotten around to watch the hulk, the second captain america movie, or any of the X-Men movies.

She brushed her teeth, made herself breakfast- egg and toast sandwich, she was sure to wash both the plate and pan after- and sat on the porch, having already said her goodbyes to her foster parents. 

The moon was somewhere between a cat’s claw and a quarter moon, light against the pale blue sky, and the three stars were visible in the distance.

Courtney Jonson pulled up in a bulky work truck at a little after 7AM. The road was still tinted with pink and red, casting long shadows on the dark truck and tinted windows.

“You can put your things in the back,” Courtney said firmly, pulling the truck’s back doors open. “You’ll be sitting in the back, too.”

Toni nodded nervously, taking a final glance back at the house and stepping into the back of the truck. She pulled herself up and then sat down in the uncomfortably unyielding seat, jacket wrapped firmly around herself, and clicked her seatbelt. She gripped her bag tightly.

“Alright, it’ll be a good couple hours,” Courtney got into the driver’s seat. “Five and a half, if we’re lucky.”

Toni spent the hours reading books she had downloaded and listening to pirated music on her tablet. She couldn't find it in herself to fall asleep- she didn't know Courtney well enough to know if she was safe, and her eyes were sharp.

After almost six hours, they pulled into what looks like a shipyard’s parking lot. An island loomed off the coast, the picture from the brochure, and a small boat was sitting at the edge of the water by the docks.

“We just need to cross the water, right?” Toni asked skeptically, eyeing the ocean with distaste. She’d been a fairly decent swimmer before, and she’d enjoyed it, but that was when she was twelve and it was summer at a lake.

This, with her being about eight at the ocean in winter, did not seem like a good time to try and start swimming again.

“Yup,” Courtney confirmed, hopping out of the car and helping Toni out. “Just a quick boat ride and you’ll be able to rest in your room.”

The boat ride was, indeed, quick- it was faster than any boat she’d ever seen, except maybe those fancy water skiing ones, and she barely had time to sit down before they were at the island.

From there, they approached a looming building, made of stone and brick. The sun was blocked out by the tall structure. Toni hesitated, but Courtney marched right up and opened the heavy-looking metal doors.

Toni eyed the interior walls- metal, heavy-duty and durable looking- as she stepped inside. The door shut, Courtney stepping up next to her, and then everything was moving too fast.

Courtney suddenly swept a leg out, tripping Toni’s legs out from under her, and her back hit the cold, hard ground. She tried to stand, but Courtney took  _ something _ that looked very similar to a taser out of one of her pockets and jammed it into Toni’s shoulder.

“Wha-” Pain shot through her, but was only there for half a second before the world faded to darkness.

_ “ _ **_Caretaker-parent-love-pack_ ** _ , I’m cold,” Whined **i** _ **_ron-metal-magma-rock_ ** _. They shivered, wrapping a pelt tighter around themselves. “Can I have cuddles?” _

**_Flame-spark-ash-ember_ ** _ quirked their mouth in amusement, chuckling as they nodded. “Here, I’ll teach you how to warm yourself up?” _

**_Iron-metal-magma-rock_ ** _ perked up. “Really?” _

_ “Of course,”  _ **_Flame-spark-ash-ember_ ** _ reassured them. “Now, do you remember the light  _ **_salt-cold-freeze-storm_ ** _ showed you?” _

**_Iron-metal-magma-rock_ ** _ nodded. They brought their hands in front of them, cupping them. A faint light appeared in their hands, pale and warm-looking. They gasped, eyes starry, and the spark rose with them into smokeless fire. _

_ They were holding fire, somehow not burning themselves. _

_ “There you go,”  _ **_Flame-spark-ash-ember_ ** _ encouraged them, copying them with practiced ease and getting a brighter flame. “Now, try and-” They snapped their palms together, as if to smother the flame, but instead of dying, the flame seemed to travel over their skin, still not burning. _

_ The flame rested on their joints, glowing and hovering. _

**_Iron-metal-magma-rock_ ** _ stuck their tongue out as they imitated their parent, only to send sparks flying.  _ **_Flame-spark-ash-ember_ ** _ laughed, putting the sparks out, and tucked their child close to them. _

_ “You’ll get it eventually,”  _ **_Flame-spark-ash-ember_ ** _ assured them, humming softly. “It’ll just take some practice. You’ve got plenty of time.” _

When she regained consciousness, the first thing she was aware of was the  _ cold _ . It was a bone-deep, sinking-into-your-skin-and-never-leaving kind of cold, as if she’d simply stopped making body heat.

The next was the even more cold metal, wrapped around her wrists, neck, and legs. Blinking her eyes open, she shivered and sat up. Her arms and neck both felt heavy, and when she squinted at her legs, there were thick metal cuffs wrapped around her ankles and wrists, a strip of something glowing a pale blue in the middle of the metal.

Her skin was pale, a sickly bruised grayish color with tints of irritated-skin-red. The scar she had originally gotten from when she landed in SHIELD was a bright, inflamed red against her pale skin, and it looked like it had somehow reopened and scabbed over.

She took a shackled hand to her throat, feeling the burning metal there, along with something wet and slightly warm. Pausing, she held her hand in front of her face. Blood was vibrant on her fingertips.

That was right- the scar had originally been on her neck, too. Whatever had split it open had done a thorough job.

Shivering, Toni shifted so she was leaning against the wall- it was stone, even colder than the air and leeching the warmth from her. Breathing in, she gasped as her breath caught, her throat and lungs feeling full of liquid. Panic struck, her heart stuttering at the feeling.

It was as if the stab wound had suddenly been unhealed. Maybe it had been- she didn’t know. Maybe someone had sliced her back open.

Coughing, she fell to the ground, and after a moment, lukewarm blood spilled out of her mouth. Her throat was cleared, and her stomach seized as she vomited even more blood. It was brilliant, vibrant red against the dark stone floor.

Panting and coughing, she shifted, eyelids heavy, and fell back into unconsciousness. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warnings: Injury of children, tazing, extreme cold, re-opening of scars, bleeding, vomiting blood
> 
> Space so CW checkers dont see spoilers
> 
> Alright! I started school on Monday, so updates will probably slow down from here on out, but we've gotten to a mini-arc that I'm excited for. The real meat of the story doesn't start for a while, but you gotta simmer the plot soup base before you add the potatoes and beef, yknow?
> 
> That said, if you want me to add any warnings or tags to this, let me know!
> 
> Also I'd appreciate comments, even if theyre just keysmashes or uh oh spaghettio's.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni makes a new friend and learns a new skill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check the end notes for trigger warnings, as per usual.

_ “Welcome home,  _ **_love-partner-heart-kind_ ** _.”  _ **_Salt-cold-freeze-storm_ ** _ spread their arms out, grinning at their partner,  _ **_flame-spark-ember-ash_ ** _. _

_ “It’s good to be back,”  _ **_Flame-spark-ember-ash_ ** _ grinned back. “How have the  _ **_children-pack-protect-offspring_ ** _ been?” _

**_Salt-cold-freeze-storm_ ** _ snorted. “They’ve been well.” Pausing, they considered it. “They had an idea, so that we wouldn’t have to travel the whole way any time one of us wanted to see someone.” _

_ “Oh?”  _ **_Flame-spark-ember-ash_ ** _ quirked their head. “Do tell.” _

_ “Well,  _ **_iron-metal-magma-rock_ ** _ had this idea that they could build a base from magma…” _

The first thing Toni was aware of upon waking up was  _ pain _ . It was a dull, aching, burning pain, pulsing dully from her palm, traveling up her arm and splitting at her shoulder, one branch going to her chest and the other to her throat. She had a headache too, her eyes aching as her head throbbed.

The next was the cold. It wasn’t quite as all-encompassing as it had been beforehand, but she was fairly certain that  _ wasn’t _ a good sign. The stone floor was still leaching warmth from her body, but it was cool enough for her to be relieved when she twisted to put her shoulder against it and it stopped burning.

The third thing she became aware of was a voice, startled and  _ freaking out, please shut up _ -

Managing to shove herself to her feet, she leaned against the stone wall and looked around for the voice’s source. Eventually, she spotted a scruffy, worried-looking man through- damn. She was in a  _ cell _ . The man was too, guessing on the fact that the tiny glass and barred window went into his room.

“H'h?” Toni propped herself up, squinting at the glass pane. “C’n you s’y tha’ ag’n?”

“Why is there a child here?” The man’s voice took on a panicked, high-pitched tone. “Who puts a child in here?”

Toni shrugged. “F’ck ‘f I know, d’de.” Wincing, she noticed a slur to her words. “Wh’r ‘s h’r’?”

The man continued staring at her, a worried and now bewildered look in his eyes. His eyebrows squinted in confusion.

Toni took a moment to blink in confusion and look at herself. She was wearing her normal clothes- which was a relief- but her pockets were lighter, and her bag wasn’t nearby.

“We’re in the RAFT prison, I think,” The man finally said, running a hand through his golden-brown hair in stress. 

“Huh,” Toni blinked in confusion again, not feeling her legs give out from under her but still noticing when she was on the floor. “Ah,” She made a sound, back against the cool stone, and blinked slowly. “Th’ ‘cademy w’s a l’, th’n.”

It made sense, in her muddled mind- honestly, it was her own fault for falling for something with the initials ‘RAFT’. Well, not really. It was very much so the fault of the people who’d put her in there, but still. The point stands.

Taking a deep breath, she decided to finally look around and see what was in her cell.

It was, all around, a very solid cell. It was solid stone, thick enough that she couldn’t hear anything hollow when she tapped on the outer wall, and the only break from it was the two tiny slots in each side wall, the very fancy-looking door in the front wall, and a teeny tiny vent in the back wall. It was barely big enough for her to fit a hand inside, so she wouldn’t be escaping that way.

The room was completely empty.

Taking a moment, she considered the situation, before finally turning back to the man. Her head seemed to have cleared as she was looking around, and now she felt normal.

“What did you do to end up in here?” She asked from below the window.

There was a long stretch of silence, before-

“Alien.” Said the man. “I have a symbiotic alien.”

Toni considered it, then shrugged. “Yeah, that sounds about right. I don’t even  _ know _ what I did to end up in here, most I can think of is surviving a stab wound.” Pausing, she finally noticed how her skin felt  _ unnaturally _ visible- her jacket was  _ gone _ . 

For some reason, that was the worst part. She was in a prison cell, probably with an infected wound and or hyperthermia, with who she was guessing was  _ Eddie _ _ Brock _ in the cell next to her, and those fucking bastards had taken her father’s jacket.

_ How dare they _ . Rage seethed through her veins, burning her already burnt neck and wrists and ankles, and she almost thought she smelled smoke for a moment.

No, wait, that was real. Her sleeve was on fire.

“Eep!” Toni made an indignant surprised squawk and then smacked the fire out, eyes wide. Staring at the smoky edge, she blinked repeatedly, and then let out an unsure breath. 

“Oookay,” She whispered, faking calm. “Okay, okay. Okay.” She muttered it to herself, a quiet mantra.

The air seemed colder, without the fire.

She passed out again.

When she woke up again, there was someone- a guard, probably- at the door, and they slid a solid, brick-hard bar of food into her cell. It was wrapped only in flimsy paper, and after she scarfed it down she was made to pass the wrapping back out, but it was food.

She didn’t know how long she’d been down there, but it was  _ too long _ . It was  _ cold _ , and after the brief taste of warmth that had been the fire, the chill seemed even more persistent on settling in her veins.

She took a deep breath, trying to think of something  _ warm _ . Her neck and ankles and wrists all burned, but that was a pain she was quickly getting used to, along with the overwhelming heat welling from her scar.

Something warm, something warm, something warm.

What were warm emotions? 

Love, she knew, was more of a non-shielding warm. Love was huddled up in blankets with her parents, laying in the sun on a saturday afternoon, reading in the living room while her father butchered guitar music.

The only other warm emotion she really knew was  _ rage _ . The kind of all-consuming, frothing rage that made her wish she had the power of the ocean to match the feelings of it. A rage deep-seated in her chest, refusing to back down, refusing to accept being told she was  _ less _ than what she was, to being boiled down to  _ something she wasn’t. _

Breathing out, she noticed she was a bit warmer.

It took what she assumed to be days for her to prepare it. She had to gather up tiny little strips of the paper from rations, tiny enough strips that nobody would miss them, and stuff them in her hidden shirt pocket. In the meantime, she got good enough at the warming breath that she didn’t freeze to death- a problem, she noted, that only she seemed to have.

Eventually, when the lights were out- because it turned out they always were, except for when the guards were there, she just hadn’t noticed- she tucked herself in the corner, cupping the bits of paper in her hands, and thought of  _ rage _ . She searched, looking for a time when it had overcome her, and found it quickly.

It was an old memory, dusty and rough, but she remembered enough to know it was the start of a deep-seated grudge.

Her hands gave off sparks, tiny and glowing, and she sucked in a breath that made the ember glow brighter.

The paper caught, and she stayed there, huddling in the corner with fire held in her hands and somehow not burning, until it had been long enough that she put out the paper- less burnt then she’d expected- and tucked it into her pocket before going to sleep, warm for the first time in days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warnings: imprisonment of a child, hypothermia, infected wounds, slurring of speech due to injury, headaches, fire
> 
> Space so warning checkers dont see spoilers
> 
> Woo! I finally got around to reading more of ao3 user deniigiq's selkie-mcu verse, and my brain went into hyperfocus mode!
> 
> also, it's the weekend, so i might (?) be able to get some more work done.
> 
> i am hoping that the reason nobody is commenting is because they're procrastinating reading this but if not: ur cool! ur great! u dont need to worry about seeming weird in the comments! cringe culture is a dead horse and we're gonna kick it together!!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni gets settled in, and then goes swimming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as per usual, check end notes for trigger warnings.

She settled into a sort of routine- she tore off little strips of papers during mealtimes, stuffed them in her pocket, and then when she was alone she set them on fire and huddled in the corner.

It was after about a week of this that she snapped. She couldn’t stand it- the cold just seemed to keep getting  _ worse _ , the longer she was in here, and she refused to be here any longer.

So, one day, in the darkest hours, she stayed up, eyes sharp and fingers tying paper into a thick rope.

So it turns out you  _ can’t _ saw at metal door hinges with paper rope and hope to succeed. Whoda thunk it?

So Toni decided to go for what she  _ did _ have going for her- she could start fires. Which meant she could generate heat. Which meant she might be able to melt the door hinges.

Taking in a deep breath, she placed her hand against the door. She remembered  _ rage _ , the feeling of someone saying something cruel and dumb and her not having the words to fight back but knowing it was wrong.

Her palm warmed. The metal let out a  _ shriek _ , and when she gasped and pulled it away, there was a slight dent in it.

Toni blinked for a moment, before grinning, letting out a quiet ‘ _ whoop _ ’ and putting her palm back to it.

By the time the lights came on next, Toni was tucked into the corner yet again, papers smoothed out and folded in her pocket. The dent was a centimeter or so deep, but nobody ever came  _ in _ the cell, so she’d be alright.

Her eyes were heavy, and her entire body was sluggish. Sighing, she collapsed in the corner, only moving to eat her rations and hand back the wrapper.

Crickets echoed in the emptiness of her cell, and she drifted o-

_ Now wait a damn minute _ , she shot up,  _ there aren’t supposed to be crickets here. _

Straining her ears, she followed the noises to the vent, moving quietly and slowly.

Pausing, she slid onto her knees, peeling open the vent.

A cricket was sitting there, still chirping, as if it didn’t care that she’d found it.

Staring at it, her breath caught. The vents had some kind of way outside. Maybe not a way she could climb out of, but maybe if she could yell loud enough, someone would hear her.

Shifting, she laid down with her ear to the vent. Pausing, she blinked, drowsy.

The crickets chirped, and Toni drifted off to sleep.

Toni woke up to silence.

Blinking in confusion, she pushed herself into sitting up, wincing at her back aching with the cold. Blood was in the back of her throat again, and she swallowed it back so she could breath.

The cricket was dead. It was collapsed in the corner, right near where her hand had been, and for a moment Toni panicked at the thought that she might have killed it.

But it didn’t  _ look _ injured, other than the thin layer of frost crystals spreading over its body.

She had to get out of here.

She was fairly certain it was night. The dead cricket was still in her cell, but she had done her best to tuck it into a corner in some semblance of respect, and another one had started up it’s song.

The ocean crashed outside, pounding at the island in a roar just loud enough for her to hear. If she inhaled deeply enough, she could almost smell the salt.

No, wait- that was real. Blinking in confusion, she looked around, eyes landing on the vent. It must’ve been bringing in salty air.

She shrugged it off, scooching closer to it ever-so-slightly to get a whiff of the ocean.

When she woke up, it was to panic filling her chest. The cell seemed  _ colder _ , somehow, than it had ever been, and when she stood, she realised it was because there was a half-inch of water on the floor. It smelled pungently of salt and fish, and there were bits of sand and tiny shells underfoot.

She approached the window to Brock’s cell, raising her legs higher and putting her feet down with more care than normal to avoid being splashed, and found that his was in a similar state. 

It looked as if Venom had done the thing where he took over for Brock, and was trying to break down the door.

Which, Toni realised with a jolt of panic, was important- if the building was flooding, the cells would be one of the first things to go.

Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself, and then threw her body at the door. The metal shrieked, rattling in a way she’d never gotten it to.

Her shoulder ached from where she’d hit the door, but she wound up and threw herself again. The water must have weakened the door, because it let out a deep, metallic groan, and buckled at one side.

Toni grunted as her arm wedged itself in the new hole in the door, scrabbling at the outside for some kind of doorknob. Her fingers burned with cold and numbness, and she was fairly certain they were bleeding, but finally, she fumbled at a release mechanism, the door swinging open and letting her arm go.

The water was deeper on the outside- it went to almost her knees, and she shuddered at the new rush of cold. 

Huffing, she turned immediately to Brock’s cell, which was still closed. Wrapping her hands around the metal door-lock, she  _ pulled _ , and it came open with a great  _ whoosh _ and the water evening out.

“Hi,” She said breathlessly, arms aching and skin cold.

Venom’s head jerked in her direction, eyes narrowing and then relaxing ever-so-slightly.

“Do you know the way out?” She certainly didn’t, and it was worth a try to hope he knew.

Venom shook his head, pausing and then pointing to a door at the end of the corridor. The water was rising, slowly but surely, but they managed to wade through to the door.

Pulling it open, Toni was met with a tall, looming staircase, water running down it. It was deeper in the stairwell than the hallway, and her waist was submerged.

“Eep,” Toni squeaked as a wave of freezing water slapped her face. Grasping at the railing, she took a step forward, one foot on the slick stone stairs.

Venom took much larger, more confident strides, seeming to be considering just picking her up and running.

She was almost halfway up when a much taller wave smacked her face, and she gasped, choking on the water and losing her grip on the railing.

She felt the water sweep her away, and she struggled to regain control- but it was  _ so cold _ , and they’d been in the water for at least half an hour, and she was only  _ eight _ , and her muscles had atrophied something awful in the cell.

The last straw was when the water slammed her against a stone wall, and her eyes burst open but she fell unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warnings: flooding, implied/referenced near-drowning
> 
> uh, sorry?


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni goes swimming and then camping. It's not a fun time. Also she's in Florida? Wack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember end notes for chapter warnings!

The first thing she saw was stars.

That wasn’t some hallucination of a dying brain- the sky was a raging storm, but it was as if she was in the eye, a beautiful swath of stars packed into the tiny safe space.

She could see, first and foremost, the triangle, glowing brighter than ever. There were far more stars, certainly, but those three were the brightest.

The next thing she saw was the ground. The sandy, coral-covered ground, seashells and pebbles making a mosaic of color. Her hand reached out, and she absent-mindedly picked up a pretty shell.

The third thing she took notice of was the fact that she was underwater.

Admittedly, she probably should have noticed that sooner.

Panic suddenly surged through her, and she flailed her arms in the water, kicking off the ground towards the starlight above.

She broke the surface and took a deep breath, just in time for a wave to push her towards shore. Paddling desperately, she swam towards the shore, adrenaline keeping her from noticing either pain or cold.

One final wave shoved her onto the shore, and she scrabbled at the sand bank, clawing her way out of the water, before collapsing a ways away, panting.

She laid there for a while, until she shoved herself into sitting up. Half panting, she sighed, letting her hands drop into the dry sand. Something cool touched her skin.

Peering at the ground, she realised she was still holding the seashell. It was one of the smooth, flat ones, jagged at the edges as if it had been cut suddenly, and tinged purple.

She stood, wincing, and pocketed the seashell. Surveying the beach, she licked her dry lips.

It was a fairly normal beach, sand slowly turning into dirt a couple hundred feet up, with a smattering of trees in the dirt.

She made her way towards the trees, and when she got there, she collapsed into a fitful sleep against one of the trunks.

_ “Behold,”  _ **_Iron-metal-magma-rock_ ** _ threw their hands up to show off the image floating in the air. “I present to you,  _ **_γῆ_ ** _!” _

_ The others clapped.  _ **_Snow-ice-storm-cold_ ** _ stood to examine the image, blinking their wide, red eyes at it. “It’s very,” They struggled to find the right word. “Magma-ey.” _

**_Iron-metal-magma-rock_ ** _ rolled their eyes. “Well, yes. That’s just the base. The rest of you will need to contribute some too.” They counted off of their fingers. “ _ **_Snow-ice-storm-cold_ ** _ will cool it down,  _ **_bright-warm-glow-light_ ** _ will add the atmosphere and bring it to the right temperature for life,  _ **_breeze-cloud-rain-gentle_ ** _ will add some life forms, and  _ **_ash-rock-crater-gone_ ** _ will make sure they’re going through the whole life-and-death thing properly.” _

_ “Sounds good to me,”  _ **_Breeze-cloud-rain-gentle_ ** _ shrugged. _

_ Murmurs of agreement filled the room. _

When Toni woke up, she was laying against a tree. Blinking, she sat up.

It was daylight- early dawn, if she had to guess. The sun was rising over the water, soaking into her skin with warmth that had been sorely missed for however long she’d been in there. Standing, she looked around.

The beach was abandoned, for some reason. She pondered it for a moment, and then her eyes caught on the thin dusting of snow covering parts of the ground.

Ah. That was probably why.

She was suddenly aware of how cold it was- she was lucky she hadn’t frozen to death.

( _ Lucky _ , she wondered,  _ or enhanced _ ? She shoved the thought out of her head as soon as it came. No use wondering.)

She scanned the beach, hoping that maybe her jacket had washed up, and her eyes caught on a patch of green by the shore. Approaching it, she grinned when she saw it was, indeed, her jacket- smelling of salt and a little worse for wear, but it had been beached long enough that when she picked it up it was dry, and she slipped it on.

A little ways away, she found her bag as well, protected in a battered plastic tote. Her things were a little scuffed from being tossed around, but they were still together, and when she turned her tablet on, it still worked.

Things somehow retrieved, she glanced across the water. The island the RAFT had been stationed on was decimated, only the crumbled remains of the foundation left standing. It was completely deserted as well, the waters around it free of fish and the skies above it free of birds, making it seem as if nature itself was shunning it.

She’d shun it too, then. Turning away, she set off to find a map of some sort.

She stared at the map, determined it was lying. “Florida,” She said dumbly. “I cannot be in  _ Florida _ .”

It didn’t make  _ sense _ . They had only driven for five-ish hours. They  _ could not _ have gotten to Florida. It would've taken at  _ least _ twice the time it did. And Florida  _ did not _ get this cold.

But here she was, in  _ fuckin’ Florida _ .

Sighing, she snagged a copy of the map. At least she also knew the date now, from a Newpaper- January 15, 2008. The headline of the article gave her pause.

**_Tony Stark Kidnapped While Showing Off New Missile In Afghanistan_ **

So that had happened. It seemed about right, but she’d never been one to know about the MCU timeline that well. Hell, she’d never even gotten around to watching a fair few of the movies.

Glancing around and seeing the park empty, she shrugged and set off to find a good place to camp nearby.

In the end, she settled for walking a ways- a couple miles, tops, which surprised her in their ease- towards the Florida-Georgia border, and setting up camp in a nice little pine forest. She made a fire out of fallen sticks and even a whole log. She also found a couple mushrooms that, thanks to her book, she knew were safe to eat, and so she speared them on a flame-cleaned stick and cooked them over the fire.

She slept by the dwindling fire, and when she woke up she put it out and set off towards the border yet again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warnings: near-drowning, the cold
> 
> might be a bit of a lull in updates because my cat died and i may or may not be avoiding going into the room where he died, which just so happens to be my bedroom, and it turns out i am worse at writing when i'm on the couch.
> 
> *shakes tin cup* comments? comments?


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see end notes for warnings, this ones a lot lighter but if you wanna be safe id check em out

Toni settled into a routine. Every day, she’d wake up and walk a couple miles towards where she’d decided to go in the end- a large forest, the Coalfell State Park in Missouri. It was a ways away, but it was in a part of Missouri that had fairly constant temperatures.

If she was going to live in the woods, then she was going to do it somewhere  _ warm _ , goddamnit.

Every night, she’d find somewhere with a decent amount of trees and set up camp for the night- a fire in a hastily assembled stone pit, foraged mushrooms cooked over said fire, and a decently sturdy tree she could sleep in.

She made surprisingly good speed, walking for most of the time she was awake. After a couple days, she figured out the best way to set up and break down camp- the trick was to find a place with most of the supplies nearby- and, by her tell at least, after the first week and a half of walking her speed picked up.

It took her a little over three weeks, but she arrived, on the 22nd day at noon.

The forest towered above her, a mix of oaks, sycamores, dogwoods, and maples. She only recognized them because she’d had trees like them near her childhood home.

Her eyes wandered as she walked through the forest, even as she tried to look out for dips, ditches, or snakes.

The leaves were almost entirely gone, the trees bare and the bark smooth.

She ran a hand over the trunks as she passed by them, the crickets chirping as the sun sunk low and early-blooming flowers opened their petals.

Eventually, she reached a small clearing, ankle-high grasses easily flattened as she walked.

She tore the grasses out near the center, moving several rocks into a circle and digging out a ditch so she could light a fire. It was times like these she was grateful her father had taught her how to build fires.

She slept in the bough of a sturdy, thick-limbed tree- some kind of cedar, she suspected.

The next morning, Toni set about looking around. She planned on staying there for a while, so she should know what the landscape was.

There was her little clearing, the ground covered with dried grasses and moss. There was only forest for a while around it, but if you kept going North- she thought it was North, at least, based on the sun- for a half-hour or so you’d find a deep, wide river. 

It carved into the bank with sharp, rough edges, not yet smoothed with time, and the rocks at the bottom were jagged and rough. Despite the time of year, fish were swimming in it, and cattails and reeds grew, green little sprouts, and tiny lily pads that clung to the edges of the shore had delicate, pale flowers blooming on them.

“Huh,” Toni sat by the bank. The ground was some kind of packed red clay, the same kind that was around her childhood home. Despite that, plants grew in abundance. “Could I try fishing?”

Cocking her head, she let out a quiet ‘ _ hm _ ’, considered it, and shrugged. “Might as well try.” Luckily, her sewing kit had both thread and a curved sewing needle, meaning all she really needed to do was tie the needle to some thread and then the thread to a stick.

“Aw yeah, this is big brain time,” She said to herself, examining the makeshift fishing rod. It looked decently sturdy, the thread almost seeming to dig into the sticks. “Now I just need bait.”

She spent a few minutes flipping stones and rotten logs, but eventually found a nice, fat worm that she speared on the hook.

“And now,” She dropped the hook into the river and settled in on the shore, “We wait.”

So she waited.

And waited.

And  _ waited _ .

Finally, after what must have been an hour and a half, she gave up. Pulling the line in, she sighed. “Better luck next time, I guess,” She said to herself, putting one bare foot on a stone to steady herself.

The stone was less than steadying, however- it was as if she’d completely missed a layer of algae clinging to the rock, because her foot slipped and she fell face-forward. Her head smacked into another rock, and she only just managed to miss landing her face in the water.

Her vision swam despite being above water, and after only a couple moments, she felt unconsciousness wrap its spiny fingers around her.

_ “The heið isn’t supposed to be injured!” Hissed a voice somewhere near her, speaking in a language that she shouldn’t understand but did. _

_ Another voice bit back at the first one after a moment. “The heið wasn’t supposed to be here in the first place! It wasn’t my fault you two did this!” _

_ “Both of you will stop,” Commanded a third voice. “The heið will be hearing us.” _

_ “The heið is already listening,” Added in the first voice. “A bad decision, considering Urðr isn’t ready to apologize.” _

_ It was strange- the name sounded like she shouldn’t understand it, but it made perfect sense.  _ All that was,  _ screamed her mind, joyfull,  _ youngest of the three _. _

_ “You’ll open your eyes now, ungr-heið.” She was suddenly standing, eyes opened. It was by far the most lucid of dreams she’d ever had. _

_ “This is no dream,” Said what she recognised to be the first speaker. Their eyes were bright and clear, darting around constantly as if they were looking at invisible butterflies. She recognized them, some subconscious part of her recognizing all of her.  _ All that is _ , screamed that part of her _ , second youngest _. _

_ “It was never a dream,” Declared the second voice. They were tall and broad-shouldered, and she recognized them as Urðr. They were rough and calloused, looking weary and battle-worn. _

_ “It will never be a dream,” The final voice agreed. All of Toni’s mind screamed at her, more information without a source.  _ All that will ever be _ , shouted her brain gleefully,  _ oldest of the three _! They stood with presence, hands twitching as if itching to weave invisible thread. _

_ “Then what is it?” Toni found herself asking. The three shared a glance. _

_ “You are not supposed to be here,” The youngest started. “This was not the plan.” _

_ “But the plan is changing,” The second-youngest butted in. “Things are changing more than they should be! There are too many threads, and the whole tree is fraying.” _

_ “It will end very poorly if we do not do something,” The eldest finished. _

_ Toni blinked, thinking over what they just said. “What does that have to do with me?” She questioned. _

_ “It didn’t,” the youngest said, gritting their teeth. “You weren’t supposed to come here.” _

_ “Well, it has quite a lot to do with you,” The middle said, cocking their head, “But you don’t need to worry about it, we’re already working on it. You shouldn’t be here.” _

_ “You will be waking up soon, in your campsite as if you never left.” The eldest declared. “This will be of no importance to you, ungr-heið. You will return to your life and live it as you will, and this memory will fade until it is needed.” _

_ Toni blinked. “Wait, wha-” _

She woke up, rubbing her eyes. She was in her camp- she must have walked back at some point after giving up fishing, because she didn’t remember the trip back, but all of her stuff was as it should be.

It felt like she was forgetting something important.

Toni shrugged.

If she forgot it, it couldn’t have been that important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter warnings: a character slips on a mossy rock and knocks their head on another rock and passes out
> 
> Behold! The end of this work.
> 
> This isn't, obviously, the end of the series- I just need to do a wee bit of a timeskip to get stuff really rolling, and it would feel weird putting that in the middle of a work, so I've gotten it to a good stopping place, and we're gonna pick back up in the next work. Whenever that's written.
> 
> If I'm being honest, that might take a while, but I'm hoping to make some oneshots at some point to clarify little details in this work that might need further expanding upon.
> 
> Also, we are slowly growing closer to the reveal of the origin of her powers, and with every chapter closer we get I grow even stronger, so there's that.
> 
> PS: first person to figure out the meaning of the bits of old norse in here gets a pat on the head


End file.
